"Birds & Berries Antique Alphabet Cross Stitch."

Hello,

Happy Friday,

Happy to say that this redwork cross stitch has been finished and is now at the framers.

Birds & Berries Antique Alphabet Cross Stitch.

Birds & Berries Antique Alphabet
Designer; JBW Designs
DMC Colour Number 321
28 count Zweigart Linen

Happiness is when you get to the end of the border stitching and it all works out.


Happiness is seeing nature at work, bees and rain.

Bee on Mutubilis Rose.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Rusty and Stamped Fabric Baskets."

Hello,

Remember I was rusting some fabric recently.

 This is what it turned out like. Love that the process was so simple. The hardest part was resisting the urge to un-tie the fabric to see how it was going.

I decided to make two baskets with some of the fabric.

 I found a tutorial online for a quick simple basket and decided to try stamping the fabric with the stamps that Bobbie-Lynn sent me.

Inside the basket.

Bottom of the basket.

 I have made a couple of these baskets and use them all the time. This one is currently holding some fruit on the kitchen bench.

 Inside the basket.

Bottom of the basket.

I will  be doing some more rusting of fabric,maybe even some linen for cross stitch.

Happy days.
Bev C

"Sewing for Jacob."

Hello,

The sun is shining here at Kainga today. It is lovely to receive some rain the past couple of days though, we need to fill the rainwater tanks etc.

 Jacob has got lots of home sewn items lately. I was given some white stretch knit fabric from a lady who was de-stashing so I made up four little shirts with different dinosaur designs on the front. I also found a lovely pattern for a patchwork ball. I remember these being made up many years ago by the patchwork ladies who met at the local neighbourhood centre.

The pattern is from the February 2014 issue of the Homespun magazine. I used some hexagon papers that I printed from the Internet and made them up without the glue, I much prefer the original way of making them. It was much appreciated by Ainsley and Julian as they had looked for a little ball that morning when they were shopping. Jacob grabbed it and smiled. It is the perfect size for him to play with.

 The other project I wanted to make was a baby block. I purchased a piece of foam and cut it up into three pieces with a hole in the centre one for a jingle bell to go in. Using the electric kitchen knife is perfect for cutting foam.

 I used six designs from the Furry Friends Madeira kit. You stitch out the designs then use a piece of velcro to make the design fluffy or you can use a steel brush.

The block is 6 inches by 6 inches finished.These blocks can be made without the embroidery if you haven't got a embroidery machine. A quick easy present to make for a little one.

I must mention that Nutex has kindly replaced the panel, I received a parcel from them yesterday with a extra panel so Jacob will have two books to read. I also heard back from Anita the stall holder, she was willing to refund the money if I hadn't heard from Nutex. Good news all round.

Happy days.
Bev C

"FNW F's, $6000, Cross Stitch, lovely gifts, 21st Birthday etc etc."

Hello,

Happy Monday.

Friday afternoon  saw me sewing for Friday Night With Friends. I had purchased a fabric panel from a lady at the Bassendean Markets the previous weekend.It was a Nutex Alphabet panel. I got it as I wanted to make it for Jacob and give it to him on the weekend.

I even went to the trouble of machine embroidering Jacob's name on the appropriate page. I had them all numbered correctly with the interfacing ironed on each panel and cut out on the correct line.
Then I noticed each and every panel piece had been printed not on the grain of the fabric at all. There is a long dotted line that marks the centre of each page.

 I lined it up evenly on the 12 inch mark (on the above photo)on the cutting mat and you can see how crooked it is. It is not possible to make the book up at all.

 I immediately emailed both the lady I purchased the panel from and Nutex but have yet to get any sort of reply. Considering I purchased this at a cost of $18..00 because it would be a simple quick project and a lovely gift for our Grandson with no left over fabric to worry about it has turned out to be a huge disappointment. I am hoping that at least one of them will replace the panel. I have my fingers and toes crossed.

For the rest of Friday Night With Friends I continued working on making some hexagon's for my hexagon quilt.
Special mention must go to Cheryll who kindly is the host for this sewing night.

Ever wondered what to do with all those cotton reels? I discovered this lovely lady at a exhibition in Kalamunda on the weekend. She is selling for $6000 I think the lady must want to keep it!

We picked up the cross stitch from the framers on Saturday morning. This one turned especially nice, it is a very dull day here so no the best photo. Another one to put up on the wall.

I 'm being very patient at the moment. Last week I decided it was time to rust some fabric. A few pieces of metal were found around the place. I wrapped up three different pieces of Homespun in rusty horseshoes, a nail and a piece of metal which you can see in the photo. The Homespun was wet with a mix of 50/50 water and vinegar and has been left in a plastic bag for the rusting to take place.

Look at the lovely bag of goodies that Lucy bought for me in Melbourne, you did well Lucy. We also gathered together for a special Lunch on the weekend to celebrate Lucy's 21st Birthday. All the best for the coming year Lucy and remember you are 21 for a whole year. You see Lucy and I had planned to be in Queenstown skiing for her Birthday but I am unable to travel at the moment.

It is a very windy day here today and as I am typing the rain has just started. My lovely roses are strewn all over the place. Nothing like a bit of forced deadheading by Mother Nature.


Edited Thursday 10th July.
Received a email from Nutex yesterday, they are going to replace the Panel. Thanks so much Nutex.

Happy Monday.
Bev C

"Broome, Melbourne and Meeting the Neighbours."

Hello,

Happy 1st July.

Last month has been and gone,only a small amount of sewing was done. I chose six Spirit of the Outback designs for some place mats that had to be sent to Broome for a housewarming gift.

 I originally wanted to stitch them all out in the black thread but when I was half way through stitching the fourth design, it all went haywire. I stitched and un-stitched  part of the design several times. I soon worked out that the Robinson Anton thread that I was using was faulty. The thread had become very thin. With no thread available in town I had to stitch the next three in bright pink thread.

It all worked out in the end as I was using some pink Frangipani fabric on two of the sides and black Homespun on the other two sides. Black Homespun was used for the binding and backing as well.  Our friends new home is in Frangipani street in Broome.

This morning seeing it was such a lovely start to the day I decided to go and see our new neighbours.

I met this one first, the elder of the family. Rather curious to see what I was up to.

As I went further up the hill, it came closer.

Here are the three other members of the family. Isn't the little one so cute. I spent quite a bit of time talking to them.

I only have to walk a few minutes to meet the neighbours, it was lovely up there by myself. I often think of that saying: 80% of the people live in the city 20% get it right.

The sun decided to go behind the clouds for a few minutes

I wish I could take some of the hay down to the garden.

Melbourne.
Lucy and David left last week for a holiday in Melbourne, they watched two AFL matches on the weekend. David's friend Sav flew down from Sydney to spend sometime with them as well. Lucy has some written instructions about a certain shop she could possibly visit and purchase something for me. We will see how she goes. Lucy fly's back later on this week but David is staying on in Melbourne as he has decided to live there and attend University over there. Best wishes with your studies David. Apparently he is getting used to the cold wet windy weather.

The love letters I wrote about in the last post were actually a secret little giveaway. One went to Sally and the other to Narelle who left comments on the post. The love letters contained the little penguin design stitched out on red fabric just like the one in the table mat I made.

Happy days.
Bev.